Three passengers were thrown from their vehicle and killed yesterday when an open-air Jeep collided with an SUV going the wrong way in Newark, police said.

The Jeep, carrying the driver and four passengers, was traveling north along Niagara Street shortly after 3 a.m. when it collided with a Dodge Durango speeding the wrong way along a cross street, cops said.

The three back-seat passengers were hurled from the smaller car, which has a removable top, and thrown about 20 feet, according to witnesses. Police said they were pronounced dead at the scene just minutes later.

Police were withholding their identifications until their families are notified.

Detectives have not determined if the victims were wearing seat belts.

The two front-seat passengers were hospitalized in stable condition with non-life-threatening injuries.

Cops arrested the Durango driver, Louis Gonzalez-Pozo of Newark, who allegedly fled the scene. Witnesses said the Durango driver got out of his vehicle on Marne Street to assess the damage, and then ran away without offering any help.

Investigators arrested Gonzalez-Pozo, 26, after tracking him to his home nearby, and charged him with leaving the scene of an accident.

Police said they are awaiting the results of a blood test done to determine his blood alcohol level at the time of the accident.

“There is a stop sign at that location,” said Detective Todd McClendon, a Police Department spokesman. “Had he been traveling the right way he would have seen the stop sign.”

The noise of the impact woke residents from their sleep.

“It sounded like a plane crash out here,” said Carlos Borges, 41, a Niagara Street resident. “It was loud. It was real loud.”

Borges said one of the surviving passengers tried to revive her sister, who had been killed.